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With only 4090 pounds to haul around — 697 less than the Dakota — the Colorado's five-banger should have been the little engine that could. It wasn't. The Colorado was the slowest in all the acceleration tests but passing, trailing the speedy Tacoma by 1.6 seconds to 60 mph. And although the Colorado has the best EPA fuel-economy numbers (17/22), the Tacoma averaged 17 mpg during our 600-mile drive, 1 mpg better than the Colorado managed.

True, these trucks are not sports cars, but all things being equal, would you want the slowest one? And it wasn't just engine grunt that landed the Chevrolet in last place.

Everyone commented on the plain-Jane interior, the least inviting of the crowd, and if you like industrial-grade plastic, you'll love the dashboard. The brake pedal is positioned too high off the floor. The front buckets feel flat and flimsy, as if they were providing the bare minimum of support but nothing more.

The rear seat isn't any better since the backrest is uncomfortably close to vertical. Worst of all, that backrest simply folds down on top of the bottom cushion, leaving an angled, high shelf that reduces the usability of the space. The other trucks all have better folding solutions. One tester commented, "It's as if Chevy were looking for ways not to compete."

We weren't thrilled with the chassis, either. The steering drew criticism for its high effort and numb feel, and the back end skated sideways when we drove on rippled dirt roads.

The Chevy did make some friends on the upward jaunt to Manson Acres. It is 7.7 inches narrower than the Ridgeline, so it had more room to maneuver on the trail. Plus, you can dial in minute adjustments to the throttle, which helped the Colorado creep up and over the most difficult and threatening rocks. The part-time four-wheel-drive system has an automatically locking rear differential, and the Colorado felt like the rockhound of the group.

In the end, what really stung us was how little innovative thinking went into the Colorado. Whereas the three Japanese trucks have some type of protective coating, storage pockets, or tie-down rails that make the bed a more useful feature, all the Chevy has is a two-position tailgate that can be held at a 90- or 55-degree angle. And despite having a narrow inline engine that should theoretically leave more room for the front tires to turn, the Chevy has the largest turning circle, 44.3 feet, despite being one of the shorter trucks in the test.

GM had 20 years to get its compact pickup right. The Colorado should be better.